Another study that confirms the role of large predators in an ecosystem comes from Australia where the dingo
(Canis lupus dingo), Australia's largest mammalian predator, is being exterminated by farmers using poison. A research group from the Universities of Sydney and Western Sydney concluded that killing dingos has a damaging effect on small native mammals such as bandicoots, marsupial mice, and native rodents. When dingos are eliminated the number of foxes increase which feed on the smaller mammals. Kangaroos and wallabies also increase and more grazing reduces the vegetation in which the ground dwellers live. Dingos are routinely poisoned or shot by farmers concerned about their livestock. The researchers concluded dingos should not be poisoned as a method of control if biological diversity is to be maintained in the bush. Their study was conducted in forested areas of New South Wales and the findings are consistent with the effects of dingo removal in desert areas of Australia.
Once thought to be related to feral dogs, biologists now think that the dingo is related to white-footed Southeast Asian wolves that were transported to Australia between 3500 and 4000 years ago by human seafarers. Dingo's latin name was recently changed to reflect this origin from
lupis. Wild dogs, including dingos, have been declared a "pest" species in NSW, but on national park lands they are protected. Poisoning with sodium monofluoroacetate (1080) is the preferred method of extermination.
